According to the documents archived by Inada Sousai, Morita Shiryu’s last disciple, Chu was created in 1964 for the artist’s solo exhibition organized by the Kyoto Prefectural Gallery and Yamada Gallery. This work is characterized by the roughness of its paper and the fullness and luster of its writing. The uneven surface indicates that the paper is rich in coarse-grained fibers; the richness combined with the glossiness of the text suggests that Morita may have added adhesives to the ink. This would inhibit the flow rate, and the rapid curing of the ink results in the visual effect described above. Furthermore, the white background that breaks through the ink near the contours of the strokes, particularly the first, second and third strokes after the start, may be the result of a high proportion of adhesive added.

All of these features are reminiscent of another work, En, which was introduced in the exhibition Morita Shiryu: Bokujin, curated by Shibunkaku, in 2021. Made in 1963, En was part of Morita’s solo show at Mi Chou Gallery in New York. En and Chu are extremely similar in terms of artistic expression, almost identical in size, and they were created roughly during the same time. If we look back at Morita’s activities and achievements in the ten years following the founding of Bokujinkai (Ink People Society), we can generally grasp why he chose to write these kanji characters at that point. Since Bokujinkai was established in 1952, Morita had exhibited his works in regular group shows both at home and abroad and has frequently engaged in conversations and exchanges with Western (mainly European and American) art circles and artists through the magazine Bokubi (Beauty of Ink). In addition to continuing to advocate the concepts of “spontaneity” and “serendipity” of the Japanese avant-garde calligraphy movement, similar to some of the core ideas of the Western mainstream of Abstract Expressionism at the time, Morita also skillfully incorporated Eastern concepts of Zen philosophy into its ideology. This strategy succeeded in gaining him the attention of the Western art world, invitations to participate in major international exhibitions such as the Carnegie International Exhibition (1958, 1961) and the São Paulo Biennial (1959, 1961), and more opportunities to exhibit and lecture overseas. The Zen scholar and Morita’s life-long mentor, Hisamatsu Shin’ichi, once described Morita as below:

    Sometimes, Morita is like a coiled dragon in the depths of the abyss, holding an unhindered
    universal motion. Sometimes, he is like a flying dragon that leaps into the boundless sky with
    firm steadfastness. (Morita Shiryu ed. Morita Shiryu: Work and Thought. 1964)

Morita created En and Chu at a time when he was determined to expand his solo activity abroad, in the hope that he, a dragon lying in an abyss, could become a flying dragon, waiting for his chance to come and then leap into the sky.

Morita Shiryu (calligrapher; 1912–1998)
Avant-garde calligrapher from Hyogo Prefecture. Like fellow artist Inoue Yuichi, Morita studied under the calligraphy master Ueda Sokyu. He co-founded the avant-garde group Bokujinkai together with Inoue and was the founder and editor of the journal Bokubi (Beauty of Ink), both of which revolutionized traditional Japanese calligraphy and spread knowledge of Japanese avant-garde calligraphy to an international audience. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor with Dark Blue Ribbon.